1 MONGOLIA MARKS CENTENNIAL WITH A NEW COURSE FOR CHANGE WWW.EASTASIAFORUM.ORG PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      2 E-MART OPENS FIFTH STORE IN ULAANBAATAR, MONGOLIA, TARGETING K-FOOD CRAZE WWW.BIZ.CHOSUN.COM PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      3 JAPAN AND MONGOLIA FORGE HISTORIC DEFENSE PACT UNDER THIRD NEIGHBOR STRATEGY WWW.ARMYRECOGNITION.COM  PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      4 CENTRAL BANK LOWERS ECONOMIC GROWTH FORECAST TO 5.2% WWW.UBPOST.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      5 L. OYUN-ERDENE: EVERY CITIZEN WILL RECEIVE 350,000 MNT IN DIVIDENDS WWW.GOGO.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      6 THE BILL TO ELIMINATE THE QUOTA FOR FOREIGN WORKERS IN MONGOLIA HAS BEEN SUBMITTED WWW.GOGO.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      7 THE SECOND NATIONAL ONCOLOGY CENTER TO BE CONSTRUCTED IN ULAANBAATAR WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      8 GREEN BOND ISSUED FOR WASTE RECYCLING WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/19      9 BAGANUUR 50 MW BATTERY STORAGE POWER STATION SUPPLIES ENERGY TO CENTRAL SYSTEM WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/19      10 THE PENSION AMOUNT INCREASED BY SIX PERCENT WWW.GOGO.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/19      КОКС ХИМИЙН ҮЙЛДВЭРИЙН БҮТЭЭН БАЙГУУЛАЛТЫГ ИРЭХ ОНЫ ХОЁРДУГААР УЛИРАЛД ЭХЛҮҮЛНЭ WWW.MONTSAME.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     "ЭРДЭНЭС ТАВАНТОЛГОЙ” ХК-ИЙН ХУВЬЦАА ЭЗЭМШИГЧ ИРГЭН БҮРД 135 МЯНГАН ТӨГРӨГ ӨНӨӨДӨР ОЛГОНО WWW.MONTSAME.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     ХУРИМТЛАЛЫН САНГИЙН ОРЛОГО 2040 ОНД 38 ИХ НАЯДАД ХҮРЭХ ТӨСӨӨЛӨЛ ГАРСАН WWW.NEWS.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     “ЭРДЭНЭС ОЮУ ТОЛГОЙ” ХХК-ИАС ХЭРЛЭН ТООНО ТӨСЛИЙГ ӨМНӨГОВЬ АЙМАГТ ТАНИЛЦУУЛЛАА WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     Л.ОЮУН-ЭРДЭНЭ: ХУРИМТЛАЛЫН САНГААС НЭГ ИРГЭНД 135 МЯНГАН ТӨГРӨГИЙН ХАДГАЛАМЖ ҮҮСЛЭЭ WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     “ENTRÉE RESOURCES” 2 ЖИЛ ГАРУЙ ҮРГЭЛЖИЛСЭН АРБИТРЫН МАРГААНД ЯЛАЛТ БАЙГУУЛАВ WWW.BLOOMBERGTV.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     “ORANO MINING”-ИЙН ГЭРЭЭ БОЛОН ГАШУУНСУХАЙТ-ГАНЦМОД БООМТЫН ТӨСЛИЙН АСУУДЛААР ЗАСГИЙН ГАЗАР ХУРАЛДАЖ БАЙНА WWW.BLOOMBERGTV.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     АЖИЛЧДЫН САРЫН ГОЛЧ ЦАЛИН III УЛИРЛЫН БАЙДЛААР ₮2 САЯ ОРЧИМ БАЙНА WWW.BLOOMBERGTV.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/19     PROGRESSIVE EQUITY RESEARCH: 2025 ОН “PETRO MATAD” КОМПАНИД ЭЭЛТЭЙ БАЙХААР БАЙНА WWW.BLOOMBERGTV.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/19     2026 ОНЫГ ДУУСТАЛ ГАДААД АЖИЛТНЫ ТОО, ХУВЬ ХЭМЖЭЭГ ХЯЗГААРЛАХГҮЙ БАЙХ ХУУЛИЙН ТӨСӨЛ ӨРГӨН МЭДҮҮЛЭВ WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/19    

Events

Name organizer Where
MBCC “Doing Business with Mongolia seminar and Christmas Receptiom” Dec 10. 2024 London UK MBCCI London UK Goodman LLC

NEWS

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EV charging network planned across EuropeEV charging network planned across Europe www3.nhk.or.jp

Major automakers in Germany and the United States are teaming up to put more electric cars on the road.
 
Volkswagen, Daimler, BMW and Ford Motor have agreed to invest in a network of charging stations across Europe.
 
Auto executives say they'll build 400 stations along major highways starting next year, with thousands of ultra-fast charging outlets by 2020.
 
The stations are to be located at roughly 120-kilometer intervals and deliver up to 350 kilowatts, so that drivers can travel far and wide.
 
Carmakers are shifting more of their resources to EV development in Europe amid slow sales of diesel vehicles following an emissions scandal at Volkswagen.
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Goldman shares hit highest level since financial crisis in post-election rally www.reuters.com

Shares of Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) on Wednesday climbed to their highest levels since the financial crisis, as the bank benefited from a post-U.S. presidential election rally.

The stock reached $220.77 in late morning trading, returning to a point not seen since December 2007.

Goldman was the biggest driver for the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI, adding 56.2 points out of a net gain of 66.6 points for the index. Goldman, like other Wall Street firms, has seen its stock soar after the Nov. 8 election, as investors expect banks to see benefits from rising interest rates and lighter regulation under a Donald Trump presidency.

In recent years, bank stocks have been largely thought of as utilities, rather than growth stocks. Post-financial regulations have forced banks to hold large amounts of capital which hurt returns.

But since the election, the KBW Nasdaq Bank Index has risen 11 percent, outpacing the broader Dow, which is up 4 percent.

Deutsche Bank on Tuesday hiked its price target for Goldman to $255 from $180, saying a stronger economy would bode well for the bank's businesses like mergers-and-acquisition advisory services, capital markets and trading.

Not everyone is so bullish on Goldman.

Nomura's Instinet research arm on Tuesday downgraded the bank from "buy" to "neutral," arguing that the potential benefits of a Trump presidency may already be priced into Goldman shares.

"We see limited upside for Goldman ... and we expect the shares to lag, as the 'rising Trump tide' euphoria begins to fade and investors become more selective," Instinet analyst Steven Chubak wrote in a note.

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Siemens' £310m Hull plant will take windfarm technology to new level www.theguardian.com

The first 75-metre-long blades destined for windfarms off the UK’s coast will roll out of a factory in Hull when it officially opens on Thursday.
 
The inauguration of the Siemens plant at the city’s Alexandra Dock employs 700 people and was hailed by campaigners as an example of how curbing carbon emissions could create jobs.
 
Greg Clark, the energy secretary, is due to attend the opening of the £310m facility, which he said was the sort of project he wanted as part of the UK’s industrial strategy. The UK leads the world on offshore wind power, but other European countries such as Germany are catching up.
 
“In the coming years the new offshore wind projects that this factory will supply could generate enough clean electricity to power over 3m homes and businesses – all with wind turbine blades produced by the dedicated and highly skilled Siemens workforce right here in Hull,” said Clark.
 
The facility’s blades are much longer than those on previous generations of wind turbines, and will be deployed on bigger, more powerful windfarms further off the coast. The first batch will be delivered to a 580MW windfarm being built by Dong Energy 17 miles (27 km) off Blakeney Point, Norfolk, which is expected to be complete by 2018. The factory is expected to build hundreds of the blades each year.
 
“This is a fine example of the new jobs and investment that people across the UK can expect to see if the government backs offshore wind in its industrial strategy and emissions reductions plans,” said Dr Doug Parr, Greenpeace chief scientist.
 
“But for this to take off, companies needs a strong signal from the government that Britain is open for business and is still an attractive investment environment for cutting-edge renewable technologies and infrastructure, such as offshore wind or solar and battery storage.”
 
The green energy trade body, RenewableUK, called the plant “a key part of our nation’s modern industrial strategy”.
 
Renewable sources provide around a quarter of UK electricity generation, but since coming to power in 2015 the government has ended subsidies for onshore windfarms and solar panels. Ministers have continued to indicate their backing for offshore wind, but have delayed spelling out how much support it will get beyond 2020. More detail is expected in the 2017 budget.
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Oil price surges as Opec agrees first cut in output since 2008 www.theguardian.com

The price of oil has surged by 8% after the 14-nation cartel Opec agreed to its first cut in production in eight years.
 
Confounding critics who said the club of oil-producing nations was too riven with political infighting to agree a deal, Opec announced it was trimming output by 1.2m barrels per day (bpd) from 1 January.
 
The deal is contingent on securing the agreement of non-Opec producers to lower production by 600,000m barrels per day. But the Qatari oil minister, Mohammed bin Saleh al-Sada, said he was confident that the key non-Opec player – Russia – would sign up to a 300,000 bpd cut.
 
Russia’s oil minister, Alexander Novak, welcomed the Opec move but said his country would only be able to cut production gradually due to “technical issues”. A meeting with non-Opec countries in Moscow on 9 December has been pencilled in.
 
Al-Sada said the deal was a great success and a “major step forward”, but the news that Saudi Arabia had effectively admitted defeat in its long-running attempt to drive US shale producers out of business was enough to send the price of crude sharply higher on the world’s commodity markets.
 
Brent crude was trading at just over $50 a barrel following the completion of the Opec meeting in Vienna – an increase of almost $4 on the day.
 
Saudi Arabia will bear the brunt of Opec’s production curbs, having agreed to a reduction in output of just under 500,000 bpd.
 
Iraq has agree to a 210,000 bpd cut, followed by the United Arab Emirates (-139,000), Kuwait (-131,000) and Venezuela (-95,000). Smaller countries are also reducing output, but Iran – which has only recently returned to the global oil market after the lifting of international sanctions – has been allowed to continue raising output. Three OPEC countries - Kuwait, Venezuela and Algeria - will monitor compliance with the agreement in an attempt to prevent quota busting.
 
Indonesia has suspended its membership because, as a net importer of oil, it wanted the price of crude to stay as low as possible and declined to cut output.
 
The price of oil has fallen from $115 a barrel since the summer of 2014 as a result of weak demand and the decision by Riyadh to keep production levels high. Saudi Arabia gambled that it could drive higher-cost US shale producers out of business but found the financial cost of more than halving the oil price too much to bear. At one stage, oil prices fell below $30 a barrel.
 
Opec has been trying to piece together a production-cutting deal throughout 2016 but previous meetings have failed as a result of ill feeling between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The cartel, which exerted enormous power over the oil price in the 1970s, was under pressure going into this week’s meeting to prove that it still had relevance in a market where it is responsible for less than half global output.
 
Neil Wilson, a senior market analyst at ETX Capital, said Opec had “confounded the naysayers”. He added that it was a “triumph for the cartel, proving it is still relevant, but the devil is in the detail … There are a few doubts but, on the whole, Opec should be pleased with a job well done at long last. This is likely to keep crude closer to $50 than $40 for now”.
 
Other analysts warned that the deal was likely to fall apart. Mike Jakeman, the commodities editor at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said he thought it unlikely that the agreement would lead to a sustained increase in the oil price.
 
It is possible that some cheating will occur. Opec’s members do not have a good track record of sticking to production quotas. There has also been no firm commitment yet from Russia, the largest non-Opec producers. It is possible that Russian production could fill the gap left by Saudi Arabia. And even at 32.5m bpd, global oil production will still be at a historically high level. There is no threat of an oil shortage that could see the price zoom back up.
 
Jakeman said that even if there was a sustained rise in prices, the response would be higher production from the US shale sector, which would drive prices back down again. “We think the lack of a sustained rise in prices will see the deal fall apart within a year,” he said.
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Mongolia and Britain sign cooperation MoU on Oyu Tolgoi www.mongolia.gogo.mn

Britain and Mongolia signed their first memorandum of understanding in the mining sector on Tuesday, pledging an exchange of technology and expertise, and deepening ties based on Rio Tinto's huge copper mine in the South Gobi desert.
The agreement, signed on the sidelines of a mining conference in London, recognised "the spirit of cooperation that exists between the respective countries" and a willingness "to promote closer cooperation in the extractive sector".
In an emailed statement, the Department for International Trade said the cooperation would cover technology transfer, education and training.
Tumentsogt Tsevegmid, CEO of Erdenes Mongol, set up to manage the state's mineral reserves, including copper, gold and coal, said the agreement also covered financing.
Mongolia, a vast country of just three million people, went on a borrowing spree at the height of the commodity cycle, and the $12 billion economy is staggering under total foreign debt - public and private - of more than $20 billion.
It has, however, been helped by this year's commodity price rally that has seen gains of more than 200 percent for coking coal and it is hoping to benefit from Anglo-Australian group Rio Tinto's Oyu Tolgoi copper mine.
In June, Rio gave the go-ahead to a $5.3 billion expansion of the mine, which will keep a steady flow of foreign investment during the next five-to-seven years of construction.
Rio says the massive mine will eventually be responsible for around 30 percent of the economy, but direct benefits for Mongolia will be delayed.
According to a 2009 investment agreement, investors must recoup their original investment costs before Mongolia can collect dividends for its 34 percent shareholding in the mine.
Oyu Tolgoi is jointly owned by the Government of Mongolia (34 percent) and Turquoise Hill Resources (66 percent, of which Rio Tinto owns 51 percent). Rio Tinto has been the manager of the Oyu Tolgoi project since 2010.
Copper aside, Tumentsogt told Reuters he expected Mongolia would export 20 million tonnes of coking coal this year to China and slightly more next year.
It is also undertaking a feasibility study on construction of a 5.2 gigawatt thermal coal plant that would export power to China.
Since Britain's decision to leave the European Union in June, the British government has emphasised the importance of new trade relations and is also seeking, for instance, to negotiate contracts in Iran, Reuters reports.
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Canada expands controversial oil pipeline to Pacific www.rt.com

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has approved extending the Trans Mountain pipeline, which may help Canada become the largest oil producer in the Americas.
 
The pipeline aims to move crude from central Alberta to the Pacific coast. The expansion would triple its initial capacity up to 890,000 barrels per day (bpd) from the current 300,000 barrels.
 
The project will cost Can$6.8 billion ($5 billion) and is expected to open the Asian market to crude exports from Canadian oil sands.
 
Upgrading the existing pipeline seems to be strategic for the economy, as Alberta has the world's third biggest reserve of crude, but it is too expensive to deliver by ship or rail from the site.
 
“The project will triple our capacity to get Canadian energy resources to international markets beyond the United States,” said Trudeau.
 
Critics of the pipeline expansion, including municipalities in British Columbia, environmental organizations, and aboriginal groups, have expressed concerns over climate change, pipeline leaks, spills, and fires.
 
Along with the Trans Mountain, Trudeau approved another pipeline - the Enbridge's Line 3, running from Alberta to the US state of Wisconsin. The new line aims to double the capacity to 760,000 bpd streaming south of the border.
 
Trudeau rejected Enbridge's Northern Gateway project, which would cross the temperate Great Bear Rainforest. The pipeline was also set to pave the way to new markets in Asia, with China likely to purchase a large proportion of the transported crude.
 
However, the project failed to win the approval over worries about spills on land and at sea. “The Great Bear Rainforest is no place for a pipeline, and the Douglas Channel is no place for oil tanker traffic,” said Trudeau.
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GoPro makes cutbacks after drone crashes www.bbc.com

Action camera-maker GoPro is cutting 200 jobs and shutting down some of its services.
The announcement follows a series of drone crashes that made the company recall its much anticipated Karma aircraft.
In addition, the US company said its president, Anthony Bates, would quit his post at the end of the year after three years in the job.
GoPro said that consumer demand for its products remained "solid".
However, the company has posted a loss in each of its past four quarters.
At the start of this month it also revealed its cash reserves had fallen to $132m (£106m) - less than half the amount at the start of the year.
"I knew they were in trouble, but I didn't expect them to have such a dramatic fall from grace," Tom Morrod, director of consumer electronics at the IHS consultancy, told the BBC.
"The Karma drones were their recover strategy, and when they had to be recalled it faltered. This is the result.
"GoPro was struggling as an action cam specialist, which is why it needed an alternative market. The fact that the device was unsalable has damaged its prospects, at least temporarily."
The job cuts represent 15% of the California-based company's workforce.
The move reflects the fact that even if the fold-up Karma drone returns to sale, GoPro will probably have missed out on the Christmas shopping season.
It had sold about 2,500 of the drones in the 16 days they were on the market.
A problem with the machines caused a number of them to lose power mid-flight, causing them to fall uncontrolled out of the air.
One video of an accident showed the drone diving on to a beach on which people were walking.
There have been no reports of injuries. However, the company is being sued over claims it misled investors about demand for the product and took too long to alert the public to its power supply flaw.
Entertainment shutdown
Reviews for GoPro's new Hero 5 cameras have generally been positive. The new devices introduced voice control, electronic image stabilisation and built-in water resistance.
However, some technology blogs doubted whether the features were enough to convince existing owners to upgrade.
And the company faces increased competition from rival action cams and the improved quality of smartphone cameras, many of which now also offer protection against water.
As part of its cutbacks GoPro is also closing its entertainment division.
The operation was announced in July 2015 and offered owners thousands of dollars for videos they had filmed using its equipment.
In return it wanted the right to promote their content through its social media accounts.
It also sought to sell the rights to the material to advertising agencies and split the proceeds.
The company described it as a "no-brainer" for creative professionals at the time.
GoPro's shares were trading 2.5% up on the day by early afternoon in New York, but they remain down on their value at the start of the year.
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Philip Morris could stop making conventional cigarettes www.bbc.com

Philip Morris has launched a new, less harmful cigarette in the UK which it says could mean it stops selling conventional cigarettes altogether.
The so called iQOS product heats tobacco rather than burning it.
The tobacco giant claims this means smokers get the same nicotine hit, but 90% less of the nasty toxins that come with cigarette smoke.
It says trials - not yet externally verified - found the new cigarette had the same impact as quitting smoking.
The firm is not pushing that finding, saying only that the new product is likely to cause less harm.
Philip Morris International (PMI), the Swiss-headquartered giant created when America's Altria spun off its non-US interests eight years ago, has spent $2bn (£1.6bn) on creating the substitute cigarette.
Andre Calantzopoulos, PMI's chief executive, says he would like to work with governments towards the "phase-out" of conventional cigarettes.
In his first UK broadcast interview, he has told the Today programme that the company knows its products harm their consumers, and that the only correct response is to "to find and commercialise" ones that are less harmful.
"That is clearly our objective," he said.
It is not the first time cigarette makers have experimented with heating rather than burning tobacco to do less less damage to consumers.
In the 1980s, Reynolds, the big American tobacco company, produced the Premier, which heated tobacco but which still involved some combustion.
It lasted a year, with customers complaining of a complicated lighting procedure and a charcoal aftertaste.
PMI's solution is much more Silicon Valley. The iQos is a £45 battery pack that looks like a small, dumpy mobile phone.
It charges a slim cigarette holder. You buy packets of tobacco sticks - a packet of 20 will cost £8 - that look like someone has taken a pair of scissors to normal cigarettes and chopped them in half.
The stick goes in the holder, and you puff away.
There is much less smoke than a conventional cigarette, and, users say, the smell does not stick to your clothes. Other cigarette companies are not far off producing rival versions.
E-cigarettes, which use an electronic system to deliver nicotine via a water vapour, are a different alternative.
'Enthusiastic'
Mr Calantzopoulos, however, points out their basic weakness. They are not very effective in converting traditional smokers.
The conversion rate to e-cigs of smokers is just 20%. Trials in Japan have shown that 70% of smokers stay with the new substitute once they have tried it.
Shareholders, Mr Calantzopoulos says, are enthusiastic about the new product.
He will need their backing, as traditional tobacco has proved an enormous money spinner.
Since PMI was created, it has returned nearly $83bn to investors in dividends and share buybacks - not far off its entire stock market valuation.
There is much riding on his new, low-harm cigarette.
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Rising debt levels threat to New Zealand financial stability: central bank www.xinhuanet.com.cn

WELLINGTON, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- Rising debt resulting from soaring home prices and low dairy prices is continuing to pose a risk to New Zealand's financial system, the central bank warned Wednesday.
 
While house price inflation in the largest city of Auckland, home to a third of the population, had softened recently, house price to income ratios remained among the highest in the world, said a Financial Stability Report from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ).
 
Vulnerabilities in the housing market had increased in the past six months and house price pressures were spreading beyond Auckland to the rest of the country, said the report.
 
"Credit to the household sector is growing rapidly, and the household debt-to-disposable income ratio now stands at 165 percent, a record high," said the report.
 
"Rising house prices continue to reflect low interest rates, steady income growth, and an imbalance between population growth and the rate of house building. There is a risk that a reversal of any of these factors could cause a significant market correction."
 
Meanwhile, low dairy prices have caused the average dairy farm to suffer operating losses for the past two seasons.
 
However, even with recent improvements in dairy payouts, some farms might struggle to achieve profitability, especially given that 20 percent of farms accounted for around 50 percent of overall dairy debt.
 
"As a result, problem loans are likely to continue to increase. Debt levels have been stretched further as dairy farms have borrowed working capital to absorb operating losses over the past two seasons. High debt levels leave the sector vulnerable to any future weakness in dairy prices," it said.
 
RBNZ governor Graeme Wheeler said in a statement that the RBNZ had asked Finance Minister Bill English to give it a debt-to-income (DTI) tool to regulate bank lending.
 
"While the (RBNZ) is not proposing use of such a tool at this time, financial stability risks can build up quickly and restrictions on high-DTI lending could be warranted if housing market imbalances were to deteriorate further," said Wheeler.
 
Deputy governor Grant Spencer said in the statement that the banking system had strong capital and funding buffers and profitability remained high.
 
"However the banking system's reliance on offshore wholesale funding is beginning to increase due to a widening gap between credit and deposit growth. Banks could become more susceptible to increased funding costs and reduced access to funding in the event of heightened financial market volatility," Spencer said.
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Cyber Monday sales biggest online shopping day in U.S. history www.reuters.com

Shoppers spent $3.45 billion on Cyber Monday on Samsung 4K TVs, PlayStation 4s and Barbie dolls among other products, marking the largest online sales day in U.S. history.
 
The data compiled by Adobe Digital Insights, easily surpassed prior estimates, and dismissed fears that strong web sales during the Thanksgiving weekend would hurt sales on Cyber Monday - the busiest day of the year for internet shopping historically.
 
It also underscored the broader shift to shopping online, which is making up for slower spending in stores.
 
Cyber Monday sales jumped 12.1 percent year-over-year and surpassed initial expectations that called for total sales of $3.36 billion, according to Adobe Digital Insights.
 
Top-selling electronics by units on the day include Sony's (6758.T) PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's (MSFT.O) Xbox gaming consoles as well as Samsung (005930.KS) 4K TVs, Apple (AAPL.O) iPhones and Amazon's (AMZN.O) Fire tablets.
 
Lego's building blocks, Hasbro's (HAS.O) Nerf dart guns and Mattel's (MAT.O) Barbie dolls were among top-selling toys, Adobe said.
 
Adobe collects the data by measuring 80 percent of all online transactions from the top 100 U.S. retailers. Of every $10 spent at the top 500 U.S. retailers, $7.50 goes through the Adobe Marketing Cloud sales platform.
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